some degree’. Such objectives are said to define ‘an area of common concern, a
purpose’.
THE UNITARY AND PLURALIST VIEWS
There are two basic views expressed about the basis of the relationship between
management and trade unions in particular or employees in general: the unitary and
the pluralist perspectives.
The unitary viewis typically held by managements who see their function as that
of directing and controlling the workforce to achieve economic and growth
objectives. To this end, management believes that it is the rule-making authority.
Management tends to view the enterprise as a unitary system with one source
of authority – itself – and one focus of loyalty – the organization. It extols the virtue
of teamwork, where everyone strives jointly to a common objective, everyone
pulls their weight to the best of their ability, and everyone accepts their place and
function gladly, following the leadership of the appointed manager or supervisor.
These are admirable sentiments, but they sometimes lead to what McClelland (1963)
referred to as an orgy of ‘avuncular pontification’ on the part of the leaders of
industry. This unitary view, which is essentially autocratic and authoritarian, has
sometimes been expressed in agreements as ‘management’s right to manage’. The
philosophy of HRM with its emphasis on commitment and mutuality is based on the
unitary perspective.
In contrast, the pluralist view, as described by Fox (1966), is that an industrial
organization is a plural society, containing many related but separate interests and
objectives which must be maintained in some kind of equilibrium. In place of a corpo-
rate unity reflected in a single focus of authority and loyalty, management has to
accept the existence of rival sources of leadership and attachment. It has to face the
fact that in Drucker’s (1951) phrase, a business enterprise has a triple personality: it is
at once an economic, a political and a social institution. In the first, it produces and
distributes incomes. In the second, it embodies a system of government in which
managers collectively exercise authority over the managed, but are also themselves
involved in an intricate pattern of political relationships. Its third personality is
revealed in the plant community, which evolves from below out of face-to-face rela-
tions based on shared interests, sentiments, beliefs and values among various groups
of employees.
Pluralism conventionally regards the workforce as being represented by ‘an oppo-
sition that does not seek to govern’ (Clegg, 1976). Pluralism, as described by Cave
(1994), involves ‘a balance of power between two organized interests and a sufficient
758 ❚ Employee relations